filament diameter - how acurate

How acurate should be 3mm diameter filament ? Is there any tolerance that we can say it is still ok and what is not acceptable ?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2014 04:32PM by Arnold.

The diameter itself doesn't matter so much as long as it fits in your extruder, but uniformity is important.

At 3mm, if the diameter changes by 0.1mm, then the cross sectional area, and the amount of plastic extruded, changes by 7%,

See [www.protoparadigm.com]

I mean it like that if the filament is much shorter in diameter like 2,7 or even 2,6, its not usable for print, because soon or later head is going to stuck.

On [richrap.blogspot.com] Richrap says he found 3.2mm to 2.6mm filament usable, but he rejects out-of-round filament and filament with more than +/-0.1mm variability.

I've been printing with 2.87mm filament for years. Davex is right, diameter is less important than making sure the diameter is consistent. Of course some combinations of extruder + hotend may me more susceptible to issues than others.

Hi guys,
so I have to do something wrong,
My prints does not hold more than 30min - 1h to stuck. After stuck when I pull filament out I can see that filament went up around the short diameter and there stuck happen (I have E3d). But true is, that I did not set up my diameter in slicer, so that is maybe why. Or is there any other special setting
in Sprinter I should set ? Filament extruding per mm I have correct so maybe if there is something else ?

I've specified extruded tubing with +-0.002 inch (0.05 mm), and from my experience it's a fairly common tolerance for small diameter tubing.
+-0.10 mm is on the high end for small diameter tubing, and is also common. At higher extrusion speeds the tolerance opens up.
Roundness is always a challenge with plastic extrusions, depending on the end use I'll use an average diameter.
Measuring methods need to be agreed upon by the extruder and client.

whoops wrong thread lol

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2014 04:15PM by myk68.